


The Wise Wren

by WhiteRoseRed



Series: RedRoseWhite's Twitfic Fairytales [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, RedRoseWhite's Twitfic Fairytales, fairytale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26060203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteRoseRed/pseuds/WhiteRoseRed
Summary: An ugly girl learns what belongs to this world, and what belongs to the next.Eighth in a series of fairytales written on Twitter, then collected on AO3.
Series: RedRoseWhite's Twitfic Fairytales [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888828
Kudos: 2





	The Wise Wren

[](https://imgbb.com/)

A girl with brown hair and eyes the colour of swamp water sold apples from a stall in the market. Every day, the men would come and buy from her. Some of them had hands and lips and arms she would dream of. Her hearth was lonely and cold.

One morning she pulled the ribbon from the wren's nest above her window to adorn her hair. The wren flitted down to the sill and asked; "why do you have this red red ribbon?" The girl replied; "I might meet my husband today." The wren hopped with laughter.  
"Ribbons won't help you. You are a very ugly girl. Men would sooner marry a misshapen apple from your mash bin, than you." The girl's heart ached all the way to her throat. The wren went on. "I see all the world as it is. Eat some seed from my mouth and you will see, too."  
The girl hesitated then opened her mouth for the wren to feed her black and brown seed. Its little clawed feet pinched and scraped her lips as it bobbed and nodded at the edge of her mouth. Sure enough, the girl could see with new eyes.

She saw the glistening pink worms churning the soil on the way to the market, the moseying beetles and complacent toads. The girl saw the eyelines and movements of the people of the market as never before. She watched the men as they moved among the stalls, seeing what they saw.

The flower-girls with roses for cheeks and the dairymaids with bosoms of cream, the weavers with silky hair and the scribes, threaded and bound in gold. Velvet and jewels, fragrant fans, each one a treasure to be cherished and held. Her heart loved them all. Then she saw herself.

A pile of brown rags with brown hair surrounded by misshapen and irregular apples. The wren was right. No one could want her; she had nothing to give. This was her place in the world. A dun apple girl. No pearls, no silk. Those things were not for her.

She still watched the men's lips and brushed their hands when they gave their coin. She dreamt of them almost every night, and in daylight she would relive those dreams. It was all life had for her; dreams cost nothing and after all she had nothing to offer.

She worked and dreamed, kept peace and was merry, and waited for Death to come for her as it comes for all. On the day that he came, she welcomed him with all the yearning of someone who had never been held before. She kissed his palms and pet his hair, beaming.

Apples rolled across the floor and she was swept up in the arms of Death as she skipped around them. He kissed her sweetly and she tasted of pies. As she leaned in for more kisses, she whispered "I have nothing to give you," and Death whispered back;  
"I have Eternity. What more could I need?" The apple girl smiled and relaxed in his arms, utterly happy. That spring, the wrens scattered seed on her grave. A beautiful apple tree sprang forth, and its pollen was spread by every moth in the village.

**Author's Note:**

> I like to imagine that they are the stories that the original character Cerryn from my Star Wars fic, [Sweetness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23748004/chapters/57035197), would have in the books in her room.


End file.
